South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma said he planned to reinforce almost 200
soldiers marooned in the Central African Republic yesterday, after rebels
overran the capital and killed 13 of his men.

He said the South African soldiers were outnumbered more than five to one, by
the heavily armed Seleka rebels, who he described as bandits.

“We are truly proud of our soldiers. About 200 of our men fought a force of
more than 1,000 bandits for nine hours,” President Zuma said. At least 27
troops were wounded and one is still missing in action after the rebels
attacked a South